End of Time, End of Fear
by Vamp61616
Summary: With The Master returning, and The Doctor's song ending, Vamp and her twin struggle to come to terms with the fate of the world...  -  An End of Time fanfiction with myOC, Vamp, a.k.a. Sapphire Balmore, The Doctor's daughter.
1. Chapter 1

'Location:?  
Date:?  
Time: How should I know?  
Progress: None

Have no idea where I am, or how long it's been. Missing the children, hope they're okay without me. My search for The Doctor has been fruitless. What a fool I've been. Perhaps if I had not become impatient and gone looking for him, I would be back in the TARDIS and not in the mess I am in now.'

That was the last thing Vamp wrote in her journal. She was wrong.  
My name is Opal, and this is the story of how the Time Lords returned...

Vamp's search had ended in part of the Oodsphere. She had found the TARDIS on a snowy, cold but beautiful planet inhabited by the Ood-a peaceful race of squid-like aliens that were once slaves to the human race, but now roam free, thanks to The Doctor's quick thinking and kind heart. He was not inside the TARDIS, so she leant against the outside of the door and watched the falling snowflakes blow gracefully through the air.  
As she lay in wait, a dark shape appeared in the distance, drawing closer and closer as if running from something. It kept coming until she could clearly make out the tall, figure of a man, his brown coat clearly visible in the snow.  
The Doctor appeared to be wearing both of his favourite suits-the blue untidiness of one suit clearly visible underneath his slightly smarter pinstripe suit. His piercing brown eyes were narrowed and his unkempt brown hair seemed messier than usual.  
The Doctor would probably not have seen Vamp, had she not been standing in the doorway. As he held up his key, the door to the TARDIS clicked and swing open, almost causing her to fall backwards. She grinned as he stopped abruptly in his tracks and blinked.  
"Hello to you too!" Vamp said.  
"Wh-? B-? How?"  
"How did I find you? With difficulty. How did I get here? Easy." her grin spread wider at the sight of her father's confused expression. As she gestured above them, they both looked to see a colossal spaceship, at least a hundred feet wide. The back of the ship was a large, vertical 'claw' and inside the claw was a two metre tall line of green glass columns, lit up and rhythmically rising and falling. A clear glass viewing dome rested atop the sloped body of the ship, and on the side was one word: TRADIS.

"Built her myself, with some help of course. Engine's top of the range as far as homemade things go, and that thing's got enough firepower to take out a whole battalion. Took me over a year to finish." Vamp took a step back to admire her ship.  
"TRADIS…" The Doctor smiled slightly.  
"The Relatively Astonishing Dreamer In Space. And you'll notice the back is a bit like the TARDIS, too."  
"It's brilliant!"  
"It's inspired. Built her just to find you. Oh! Could I borrow your screwdriver for a sec?" she exclaimed suddenly, patting her pockets. The Doctor retrieved his sonic screwdriver from the inside of his coat and handed it to her. Adjusting the settings, Vamp pointed it at the TRADIS, which began to glow a bright blue, then vanished as if it had never been there.  
"I promised Oscar I would teleport it back to him when I found you, to let him know I was alright." She explained, handing the screwdriver back to The Doctor, "I even left my sonic pen with him, so he knows I'm using yours." The Doctor's eyes narrowed again as he took in her weart eyes, her disheveled black hair and her torn, fading clothes.  
"How long were you looking for me?"  
Vamp's smile faded and she suddenly looked tired and weak, "I don't know. It feels like a lifetime, but it could've been days. The thing is, I've had these dreams and… I knew you wouldn't be coming for me anytime soon, I just knew because… Are they real, father? Are the dreams real? They can't be, can they? Not… not him…" her expression darkened and she looked fearfully up at The Doctor.  
"He's back, isn't he? It's The Master, he's back. How is that possible? Tell me: Is He Back?"  
The Doctor looked down at Vamp's pleading face. The child's face was a mask of fear, and something in her tear filled eyes made him want to say no, to reassure her. But he couldn't lie to her.  
"Yes." He said quietly.

Vamp gasped and stepped backwards, the tears falling freely down her cheeks. Everything in The Doctor was screaming at him to take it back, to calm her, but as they both ran into the TARDIS, he knew he could never do that to her. She tried to help him fly the TARDIS, but she was shaking so violently that she had to sit down before her legs gave way eneath her.  
"How? How is that possible?" she whispered, more to herself than to The Doctor. He said nothing, but continued to slam switches and buttons and anything else on the TARDIS console he could reach. Moments later, the green, glowing column ceased to move, and the TARDIS gave a shuddering lurch that would have thrown Vamp off of the chair, had she not clung onto it at the last second.  
"Coming?" The Doctor asked casually, already knowing the answer.  
"I..." Vamp shook her head slowly, "No. You know I normally would in a situation like this, but I don't think I can face him so soon. I'm sorry." she gestured towards the TARDIS doors and smiled, "This one's all yours. How envious I am."  
The Doctor gave a lopsided grin and turned towards the doors, but as he did so, his smile turned back to solemnity. The Master was back, but something bigger was coming. And he had no idea what that was.


	2. Chapter 2

As the TARDIS doors closed and The Doctor disappeared from sight, Vamp sighed and shakily got to her feet. Walking out of the room, she stumbled down the vast and endless corridors until she came to the familiar flower that marked the door of her bedroom.  
It was black. The same black that it always turned when she was in danger. But the flower should only change colour whilst she was /inside/ the room. Opening the door, she stepped inside. A greeting wave of air brushed past her face, and the enchantments she had put on the room so many years ago were activated. A sweet, calming scent filled her senses and reminded her painfully of her homeworld, whilst protective bonds weaved themselves invisibly around her. The bed was still made and her desk was untouched, indicating that The Doctor had not entered the room since she left.  
But the flower was still black.

Panic rose in her throat and she stared around the room, her eyes darting back and forth as she searched for any sign of danger.  
"_What's wrong?"_  
Vamp jumped. The Doctor's voice echoed in her mind for a few seconds and she realised she must have unwillingly reached out for her father's mind in her panic.

"_It's... the flower. The flower over my door. It's black"_  
The Doctor's reply was gentle and calm.  
"_It's been like that for a few days now. Just ignore it, nothing can hurt you in there."_

"_But what if it's him? The Master? What if he's in here somewhere? He's got inside before, what if he's-"_

"_He's not. I can smell him near to me"_  
Vamp pulled out of his mind and sighed. Closing the door to shut out the sight of the flower, she sat on the bed and let the calming scents engulf her.

The Master had returned before. Years ago, he had stolen The Doctor's TARDIS and transformed it, turned it into a paradox machine to enable the entrance of the Toclafane to Earth. The Toclafane were once humans, the /last/ humans, who survived the end of the Universe. But they had changed. They became shrivelled heads encased in a black orb, and The Master granted them access to Earth in their past. The paradox machine ensured they could destroy the human race and survive. But that was the least of it. The Master had also managed to corrupt people. Good, normal people that didn't deserve what they got. One of them was Lucy Saxon, The Master's wife. The other... was Vamp. She's laughed as The Master aged and weakened her father, and joined in with the torturing of Captain Jack, a former companion to The Doctor. She'd danced with him, laughed with him, even sung with him, and all because he knew she was a danger to him.  
And she'd cried. When The Doctor overpowered him and Jack destroyed the paradox machine, she'd cried. Time had reversed and The Master had lost, but the only people that remembered were the people that were with The Master. The Doctor, Jack, everyone. And that included Lucy and Vamp.  
But Lucy had killed The Master. He had refused to regenerate and The Doctor had burnt his body. So how had he returned?


	3. Chapter 3

_I'm here. I couldn't resist, but I can't face him directly._  
Vamp, having failed to fall asleep for worrying, had decided to join The Doctor in her own, slightly less scary way. By linking her mind with his, she was able to see everything he saw, feel everything he felt, and-  
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!  
-and hear everything he heard.  
_"He will knock four times... oh no... no no no no... You be careful, Doctor. If you die out there-"  
"You'll kill me, yes." _The Doctor interrupted.  
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!  
And it continued. Faster and faster.

The Doctor turned and ran in the direction of the knocking, but by the time he'd got there, it had stopped, and The Master was gone. But The Doctor kept running, never slowing, never tiring, and there he was. The Master, standing atop a heap of rubble and dust. He roared, a bloodcurdling, spine-chilling scream, then jumped from the mound and disappeared behind a mountain of dirt and rock. The Doctor gave chase; hopping, climbing and jumping over the bricks and rubble, all concentration fixed on catching The Master.  
So, of course, Vamp got the fright of her life when the old man stepped out in front of The Doctor.

"Doctor, I-"

_"Father? Who is that man? How does he know you?"_  
_"Wilfred Mott. You remember Donna, yes? Well... He's her grandfather."_ he replied, running past the man and jumping up to a pile of wood and metal. Looking around, he was frustrated to find that The Master had escaped. A faint gasp in his head distracted him for a moment.

"_Vamp?"_ no answer. "_Vamp?"_  
"_I... sorry. I don't think I can hold the link... I've been through a lot and it's... it's weakened me a bit. I'm s…"_

Vamp fell to the floor as the mental link snapped and the last of her power was drained from her... 

"Sister?"

Vamp's eyes snapped open at the sound of an extremely familiar voice.  
"O-Opal? Is that you?" she croaked. Sure enough, as she lifted her head, her eyes met with an identical shade of piercing green, on an identically round face, on Vamp's very own identical twin.  
"Yes. It's me, sis'! I'm back! I'm sorry, I should've warned you. I'm afraid your journey wasn't the only thing that has drained you. I've been gathering power for the past month, just so I could escape."  
"Escape? You mean you're here for good now? How?"  
"There's no time to explain. The Doctor's unconscious, but I think he'll be okay. At first, I was draining your power, but it's not enough, so he said I could use some of the TARDIS' energy! Oh, you've missed so much whilst you were unconscious!"

_When we were just babies, both Vamp and I died. They managed to find Vamp's problem and fix it, but they couldn't save me. I would have died that night, had Vamp not been there. They placed my spirit inside a stone-not unlike the Heartstone-except this stone did not merely allow communication between us, but contained my whole essence, who I am. My personality, memories, even the imprint of my body were contained in that stone, and placed inside Vamp's heart.  
Once there, I became part of Vamp. Anything she saw, I saw. Anything she felt, I felt.  
It was okay at first. I was alive and that's all that mattered to me. But it became a prison, with no free will, no ability to think, only able to do things for myself when Vamp was unconscious.  
What they never told Vamp, however, was that the connection was only temporary. I was constantly draining Vamp's lifeforce, regaining my strength yet draining hers to its minimum.  
Vamp had always been a sick child, and I was only making it worse, so now, at this most crucial moment in time; where The Doctor's song was ending and The Master was returning, I broke free. I drained all of Vamp's power at once, and broke free of my bonds. To help him. To help them both.  
I had returned, but something bigger was approaching; something that could end time itself. And I was here to stop it._

As Opal spoke of Wilf, how he had managed to find The Doctor so easily where others had travelled so far and failed to find so much as a trace of him, Vamp listened intently. Then, when she explained The Doctor's confessions; his fear of death and regeneration; his mistakes; spoke of how he'd cried, and how he had spoken with The Master, only to lose him to masked soldiers who kidnapped The Master and knocked The Doctor unconscious; Vamp cried. She wept bitter tears at the sudden realisation of her father's imminent regeneration, and Opal cried with her.

They sat sobbing for a while, then Opal gave a watery smile.  
"He said something. The Master said something and… it moved me. Just for a little while, it brought a tear to my eye. I could tell you, if you want."  
Vamp shook her head and wiped her eyes,  
"I think I've heard enough now. Maybe later."  
Opal nodded and got to her feet. As soon as she'd done this, however, the TARDIS gave a sickening lurch that knocked her back to the floor. Vamp laughed and stood up, helping Opal to her feet.  
"Either The Doctor is awake, or the TARDIS really doesn't like you! Personally, I think it's both!" she said, earning a slap from her sister, "Ow! Come on; let's see what he's up to."


	4. Chapter 4

As they walked through the hopelessly long and dimly lit corridors of the impossibly large spaceship, they laughed and shared their memories of The Doctor.  
"Oh, d'you remember the time when he was showing off and… he broke the Transdimensional Stabiliser?" Vamp spluttered.  
"He didn't have a clue what it was!" Opal recalled.  
"Yeah, and when I told him he was like 'that's exactly what I was going to say. And I've wanted to get rid of it for-'"  
"What?" they both said in unison, then proceeded to stumble into the calmly lit control room, where The Doctor was standing, utterly perplexed by the girls' uncontrollable laughter.  
"Oh, come on! Why do they all laugh at me? I should invite everyone round, we could have an 'everybody laugh at The Doctor behind his back' day."  
"Or then there was that time when he was gonna be human, and he gave Martha that message video with a list of instructions!" Opal suggested, apparently unaware of The Doctor.  
"Yeah, that was… hilarious! 'Not before I make some strange noises with my mouth that will sound something like Bingle bongle…"  
"Dingle dangle, yikkity do, yikkity dah, ping pong, lippy tappy too taah!'" they quoted together. The Doctor raised an eyebrow quizzically,  
"Have… have you two been memorising every word I say?" The girls abruptly stopped laughing.  
"No…maybe…" Vamp started awkwardly.  
"But only the good bits!" Opal answered brightly, then joined Vamp in looking awkward, "Which is… probably…"  
"The majority of it…" Vamp finished. The Doctor looked surprisingly touched for a moment, then grinned smugly and adjusted his tie,  
"Okay, I admit, I'm brilliant."  
Vamp smiled back, "Yes you are!" she said proudly.  
"Absolutely!" Opal agreed with a wink.

"Doctor… there's something I've been meaning to give to you since I found you." Vamp said, her smile fading to a minimum.  
"And what's that?" The Doctor asked quietly. Vamp's face split into a wide grin,  
"A great, big, HUG!" she exclaimed, practically knocking The Doctor off his feet with her sudden hug. He laughed and lifted her off the ground, puffing his cheeks out as he did so.

"Bit late for emotional reunions now, isn't it?" Opal claimed, and The Doctor frowned.  
"Oi! You've had your turn, let someone else be emotional over me!" he protested with a wink, "Blimey you've grown!" he puffed to Vamp, "How long's it been?"  
"Thirteen years! And blimey, have I missed this! Seriously, hundreds of people have hugged me but you have to be first class. I think I'm addicted!" Vamp sighed and rested her head on his shoulder, breathing him in. "I missed you. I mean, I normally miss you when I'm away, but this time it was different. I was scared. First the dreams, then when I tried to find you, there were times when I was completely lost, or didn't know what to do. I never gave up though. I never lost hope because…" her voice broke and tears blurred her vision, "because sometimes I don't know what I'd be without you. I completely messed up my life before I found you; you sort of keep me together, help me through things. Oh, I just… I thought I'd never see you again!" she cried.  
The Doctor sighed and stroked her head gently. The sobs continued whilst he flew the TARDIS, supporting her with one hand and using the other to flick switches and push buttons. It was a slow and-with the weight of Vamp-painful process, and The Doctor couldn't help but feel a little relieved when the crying gave way to deep, steady breathing and he could finally lay her on the chair that the TARDIS console overlooked.

"I thought I'd be free." Opal admitted quietly, "Free from the bonds that tied us together too tightly. But I can still feel it. I can feel her distress."  
The Doctor smiled softly.  
"You do know what that is, don't you? You're still connected, but that's always been there, since the very second you were born. Didn't you ever notice? All sisters from your planet have that connection, twins especially." As Opal closed her eyes and rubbed her temples in frustration, he leant forward across the console and removed her hand tenderly from her face, "You don't remember, do you?"


	5. Chapter 5

Opal sighed and shook her head, "Vamp recently lost her memory, obviously taking mine with her."  
The Doctor's frown intensified, "How?"

Opal took a deep breath and began, "Vamp met some pretty nasty characters on her way here, but I think the worst were the Machda, a whole nest of them in fact."  
The Doctor's eyes closed in sudden understanding and he turned to look at the pale, sleeping figure of Vamp.  
"The Machda, of course! Creatures born to feed off happiness, literally eating away at happy memories until there's nothing but pain. I'm so sorry."  
"But there's more to it than that. The Machda had inhibited a whole planet, having devoured all remaining happiness in that world. Many people perished, some lost hope, but none were spared. She landed there, hoping to find you in the middle of trouble like you usually are. But there was no sign of you, and she was soon surrounded. Seeing no way out, she decided to take a leaf out of your book."  
The Doctor turned to look back at Opal, "Which was?"  
"She reasoned with them. They were starving and she promised to help them if they took her to the Queen," she paused for a moment, them forced herself to continue, "Turns out there were a lot more there than she thought. The whole planet was full of them. Fifty billion Machda, all starving. She couldn't help them without taking them away from the planet, and if she did, they could've spread out and destroyed the whole galaxy.  
"So she did the only thing she could. She let the Queen have her. Luckily, it couldn't get past Gallifrey."  
The Doctor frowned in confusion. "Why's that?"

Opal gave a sad smile, "Lonliness. It backfired."  
"And the Machda are all part of their Queen. Stop the Queen…"  
"The whole nest is finished. There… there are times when Vamp can keep me out of her mind, but I think she knew. She knew who the Machda were, and knew exactly what she had to do. And father, I think… if there is a time when she needs you more than she does already, it was then. She called out for you, she could barely cope."  
The Doctor closed his eyes again briefly, and walked over to Vamp. Kneeling beside her, he brushed a few locks of long, black hair from her face, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He muttered gently, then stood and looked down at her, "She gave up the best years of her life to save others." A wide grin spread across his face, "It's times like this when I'm proud to be your father!"  
"But she's just a child." Opal said sorrowfully.

"No, she isn't. And I think that's the problem. Your people have such a short childhood as it is, then the Time War starts and you've got this big bundle of responsibility to cope with." He took a breath, "_Then_, to top that all off, you turn thirteen and you're suddenly branded as adults. By the time it's all over you've had most of your childhood stolen from you. Vamp is a child…"  
"That doesn't know how to be one. So while she maintains a childish personality, she's trying to cope with things only an adult could." Opal understood.  
"Bosh!" The Doctor explained, miming dropping a pile of papers, "Another heap of responsibility."

"You put it so simply. I think you might be right." The Doctor looked at Vamp, who hadn't moved, except for her now open eyes.  
"Vamp! Hello! How long have you been awake then?"  
"Long enough."  
"How much did you hear?" Opal asked quietly.  
"Almost everything. I can only sleep for a minute before… before the dream starts." Vamp shuddered slightly and sat up, "There was one thing you said… It was wrong. Those years-the years I gave up to the Machda… Can something really be the best year of your life if you can no longer remember it? It hurts to lose them, yes, but once they're gone, you can no longer be sure they were ever there."  
Before anyone could answer the question, however, the phone rang.

All three heads snapped round at once. There was a brief silence-broken only by the ringing-in which both Vamp and Opal blinked rapidly, and The Doctor picked up the phone. His eyebrows raised as he looked at the caller ID.  
"I think it's for you," he said with a wink, handing the phone to Vamp. Confused, she took it and looked down at the screen. Instead of a number as she expected, a group of symbols and characters filled the screen. She gave a small gasp as she recognised the pattern as a mental linkway. She looked up at The Doctor, who grinned and mimed pressing a button and holding it to his ear. Vamp nodded, a blush creeping up her neck, and copied, barely managing to find the right button as Opal and The Doctor laughed silently. She grinned widely as she heard the voice of one person she needed more than ever before.  
"Doctor? It's me. It's Vamp's daughter."

The Doctor watched as Vamp's face lit up in delight.  
"Melody!" she said, "It's Vamp, and I made it."  
In the short silence that followed, her expression twisted into a disbelieving smirk.  
"Are you getting cheeky with me?"  
A pause, then:  
"Ooh, you're pushing it, madam." Her face softened, "I missed you too. And Amrien. I'll be back soon."  
Vamp's face split into a wide, childish grin, not unlike The Doctor's.  
"Oscar! How is he? Has he looked after you properly? He hasn't given you food poisoning? Given you the wrong clothes in the morning? Sent you to bed too early? Normally I wouldn't ask, but you know what men are like. Especially the human ones. Especially especially the ones with an ego the size of the country they came from. _What is your problem?_" she added, turning to The Doctor, who had failed to hide the small snigger he gave at Vamp's last comments.  
"Typical mother," he said with a wink.  
"Oh do be quiet, father! She's been away for Gods know how long!" Opal complained, but flashed a smirk at Vamp. The Doctor raised his hands in defeat, and Vamp returned to the phone.  
"Yeah, you said that. What about him?"

"He what?"  
As The Doctor watched, both Vamp and Opal's faces dropped in slow motion, like a cartoon or flick-book. From happiness, to confusion, to worry, to anguish, their faces melted into a grimace of sorrow and anger.  
"I'll be right there." Vamp said tonelessly into the phone, then slowly hung up and handed it back to The Doctor, staring emptily into space in shock.  
"I've got to go," she said. The Doctor opened his mouth to speak, his brow furrowed in worry. Vamp smiled unconvincingly, "I'll be back," she gestured towards the TARDIS doors, "England, yes?"  
The Doctor nodded.  
"Stay here. In England at least. As long as you're here, I can find you," her face darkened, "I'll be back before you know it. Screwdriver," she ordered, not looking him in the eye. Taking the sonic screwdriver, she turned wordlessly towards the doors. Opal stepped forward.  
"I'm going with you."  
Vamp stopped, but didn't turn. "No," she said plainly.

"You need me!"

"So does he!"  
Opal's face reddened but her voice was calm and indifferent.  
"No. He needs you. You've travelled with The Doctor, not me. I'm just a spectator. He needs you," she repeated.  
"That's not true. He needs both of us. But right now, my children come first. Father can look after himself for now. They can't." Vamp growled sadly.  
"Which is why you need me! I don't know what's happened, but I can guess. And if I'm right, you won't be able to hold yourself together!"  
Vamp's face turned scarlet and she clenched her fists furiously.  
"Yes I can! You don't know, you haven't got a clue!" turning her back on her sister, she stormed out of the TARDIS and held up The Doctor's sonic screwdriver. A bright flash of light blinded her for a second but, in her fury, she didn't flinch or look away. Why must everyone think her so incapable of handling herself?  
But as she stepped towards the TRADIS, cloaked to hide it from any humans in the vicinity, she knew. Deep down she knew that Opal was right. And that made her all the madder.  
"You shouldn't have left them behind." Opal said as Vamp handed the screwdriver back to her father, who barely had time to pocket it before lurching to grab Vamp, who landed a punch on Opal's cheek.  
"That's enough!" he snapped, "Both of you!" he added as Opal stepped forward threateningly. "I've got enough to worry about without you two arguing like… like… children!"  
Vamp struggled for a while as Opal stared in horror.  
"When did you change? When did you become this?" she growled. The Doctor's grip tightened, expecting attack, but Vamp merely slackened, sighing wearily.  
"How would you like it? If… If..." she broke off; breathing heavily, eyes widening. "I've got to go. Before I…" she gasped and pushed away from The Doctor. Her hands were glowing with an eerie blue light and she ran into the TRADIS, barely glancing back as the doors slid shut behind her

Vamp sprinted through the long corridors of the TRADIS, frantically making calculations in her head. After a while, she stopped abruptly and doubled over, clutching the glowing hands to her stomach. She was in a long corridor, with small doors on both sides, all the way along the hall. Surely she must be mid-ship by now? She stood and clenched her fists, the power swelling within her. Too late to find out now. As she turned to face the door to her right, the rage forced her arms out in front of her, blue flames billowing from her fingertips and burning through anything in the way. She increased the flow, an idea hitting her.  
The Doctor pulled Opal backwards as the explosion of blue fire ate through the TRADIS wall like a mouse through anything but cheese, in an enormous stream that continued to spray out in uncontrollable bursts.  
"Opal!" Vamp shouted through the chaos, "The power… use it!"  
Opal looked confused for a moment then, after a minute of pondering, grinned broadly.  
"Now there's the Vamp I used to know!" she laughed, and before The Doctor could stop her, she had run headfirst into the heart of the flame!


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks to my good friend Sarah for the 'picnic with the moomins' line!

XD Oh, anyone who knows Kay from the Newsround Messageboards wil understand the Probably Toaster joke in here. To anyone else, it's just a couple of random words... ¬_¬

I've just realised how immensely cheesy this is Xd I think I'm just going along the theme of the original End of Time, though, and jumping the shark every so often XD

* * *

The Doctor stepped forward, about to call out, when he noticed the…  
"Impossible!" he exclaimed, as the flames coiled and changed direction. Before long, they had retreated slightly, but appeared to be wrapping themselves around Opal's body, and being pulled into her mouth and nose. "She's… absorbing it! But that's impossible!" he repeated, face screwed up in confusion, "Nobody can absorb that much power."  
"Just like nobody can absorb the TARDIS' power?" Vamp laughed weakly, "Opal wasn't supposed to be free yet, it's too soon. She needs even more power than this, but it should be enough for her to stabilise." She explained, before the flames dispersed and Opal fell backwards. The Doctor darted forward to catch her and she smiled vaguely.  
"You alright?" when Opal nods, he looks up to see Vamp on all fours, panting, behind a pile of dust and a gaping hole which used to be part of the TRADIS wall. "Vamp?"  
Vamp lifted her head and smiled lopsidedly.  
"Just… admiring my flooring. I feel," she continued, "like I've just had the majority of my power drained by a twin who shouldn't even be alive yet." She grinned.  
"Well I feel like I just had a picnic with the moomins and the marshmallow men from Ghostbusters!"* Opal giggled with a hiccup.

"And that. Don't worry," she added, as Opal giggled again, "that'll pass. It's like having a sugar rush, just-"  
"Flibble." Opal finished, nodding solemnly.  
"-weirder." Vamp finished. "Now," she continued, examining the damage to her ship and standing up shakily. "I'd better fix this up and go, before the cloak breaks and people notice a ship with a massive hole in it, and scream, and run away, and cause a riot, and get the army, and start shooting, and distract the kids with tellytubbies, and… it just won't be pretty," she winked.  
"How're you gonna fix that?" The Doctor asked, nodding towards the hole and stopping Opal from wandering away.  
"Buttons!" Opal claps excitedly.  
"Well…" Vamp considered, then lifted a panel on the wall next to her, "When you put it that way…"she pressed several keys on the panel and the ship began to groan. Before long, the walls seemed to grow, panels slotting into each other one by one. "Buttons!" she confirmed, then waved as the last panel slotted into place, obscuring the room from view.  
"Toaster!" Opal called as the colossal ship gave a roar not unlike a helicopter; the columns at the back beginning to rise and fall, and the mass of metal and glass rose from the ground.  
"Probably," came the echo of Vamp's voice, possibly from a hidden speaker system. Then the ship glowed blue, and disappeared with a whoosh of air.

Vamp sighed inwardly as she sat at the confusing arrangement of controls at the nose of the TRADIS. Could this day get any worse? First The Master, and now she discovers that Oscar had decided to explore another planet and get himself-  
No. Vamp practically shook herself, refusing to admit the inevitable. He couldn't be. He was practically immortal, like her, he couldn't.  
Could he?  
Vamp's insides lurched as the ship jolted to an unsure halt. Here goes nothing.  
She heard the gunfire before she saw it. Something big was going on, and her children were stuck in the middle of it. As the doors parted, Vamp's worst fears were confirmed. She could feel the energy in the air, a great barrier of heat and magic that prevented regeneration of any kind. Her eyes flickered back and forth, surveying the area. There wasn't much to see that she hadn't seen a million times before. Bodies motionless. Outlines of towns and villages that may once have flourished, but now lay rotting in a pit of ash and dust. Fire encasing buildings and destroying nature's work. This was life's payment, but it was also life's thanks to creation for giving them this knowledge. This was life's way of saying 'thanks for the power, now quite kindly shove off.'  
And there, amongst the carnage and noise, was the distant, still figure of one boy she loved more than anything in the Universe. She could just make out the shape of his young body, clothing torn and ragged, hair now wild and unkempt.

She waded forwards through the glass and wood, ignoring the cries and battle around her, and making it to Oscar faster than she expected. He was lying motionless, and the most clichéd writers would say he could almost be sleeping. His eyes were closed. Good. She hated closing their eyes for them; it just rubbed in the pain. His arms were folded across his chest, obviously put there by the children. The children... Where were the children?  
"Amrien! Melody!" she called, searching the crowd desperately for her son and daughter.  
After what seemed like hours of searching, a confused cry echoed back to her.  
"Mother?"


End file.
